In
The Falcon and the Invernal Soldier, there is a mysterious figure who controls the criminal underworld of Madripoor. We don't know his real name, only the title
Power Broker. The mere mention of his existence is enough to make
Baron Zemo and
Sharon Carter shudder, whoever he (or she) is.
In
Marvel comics,
Curtiss Jackson aka Power Broker is a long-time
Captain America villain related to the origin of John Walker's powers. At the head of a company called Power Broker Inc, Jackson provided his customers with the opportunity to receive superpowers using specially designed technology.
Time to find out everything you need to know about the Power Merchant.
Who is the Power Broker?
The
Power Broker is a mysterious villain known for dealing in superpowers, seeking to obtain the highest possible profit. More than one man has taken on the title of the Power Broker. Still, the only one who has had his identity revealed is precisely the one who inspired the live-action version that appears in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -
Curtiss Jackson.
Always with ulterior motives, it was thanks to his experiments that important heroes from Marvel's past got their powers. Among the best known are
Sharon Ventura, who replaced Carol Danvers as
Ms. Marvel for a while,
John Walker, Steve Rogers' successor as Captain America, and his sidekick
Lemar Hopkins, the
Blackfire.
First Appearance
The first time the Power Broker appeared in the comics was in 1978, in
Machine Man #7. He began to gain experience in his criminal career working for the
Corporation, a conglomerate of businessmen and politicians who aimed to control the criminal underworld through espionage and terrorism.
Curtiss led the West Coast faction with a certain autonomy, and his primary mission was to find a way to replicate
Machine-Man. With some knowledge acquired, it didn't take long before he founded his own company, the
Power Broker Inc.
The Power Serum
The Power Broker started his company with a very straightforward proposal: to deliver superpowers to anyone who could pay. To do this, he teamed up with mad scientist
Karl Malus, who developed a serum capable of awakening super strength in its users. They did not disclose the severe side effects: besides physical deformities in half the cases, the serum was adulterated with drugs so that his customers would always pay for more.
Curtiss' biggest target was professional wrestlers seeking additional strength. He would offer help for free, and after his victim was hooked, he would force the target into debt, paying for the company's shady experiments. Steve Rogers investigated this scheme with D-Man without knowing that his successor was one of the victims.
Powers and Abilities
In truth, the Power Broker was just an ordinary man with incredible business acumen and a great deal of influence in the criminal world. But when his company was raided, he tried to apply his unstable serum to himself, which had terrible consequences for his body.
Curtiss eventually lost control of his muscles and needed a colossal exoskeleton to get around. This exoskeleton was as sturdy as the
Hulkbuster developed by
Tony Stark and even had huge metal claws. So even though physically weak, the Power Broker became an even more dangerous villain.
Who killed the Power Broker?
Even though he was most active in Captain America stories, the infamous Power Broker eventually died at
Frank Castle's hands, the Punisher. In
The Punisher #13, the mercenary needed to break into a high tech high society auction unnoticed.
Among the sale items were weapons and devices created by Tony Stark and Reed Richards obtained in unconventional ways. Thus, Castle ends up killing Curtiss to extract an identification chip injected into his arm. The Punisher attempts to disguise himself as a Power Broker but is captured shortly after that.
The New Power Broker
Following the legendary Power Broker's footsteps, a mysterious new man has taken over his company. With purplish skin and completely white eyes, he doesn't exactly look human, but we don't know if he is an android or an alien. Either way, the
new Power Broker has bold plans to modernize his business.
Firstly, power sales are now investments. He charges
70% of the profits from any action benefited by human enhancement. The powers he can sell go far beyond just strength, but we do not yet know their full extent. He has experimented on himself, acquiring the ability to fly and manipulate energy.
Hench Mobile App
The most well-known scheme of the new Merchant of Power was the genius idea to develop a super-villains mobile app. That's right! He created an app called Hench, where anyone could hire their own super-villain for a low price. The idea was so successful that
Darren Cross, the
Yellowjacket, decided to copy it and launch a rival app.
Some of these villains ended up being hired to go after Scott Lang, so
Cassie Lang, the Young Avenger, decided to investigate him. She signed up as a villain on the app under the codename
Stinger and helped the Power Broker corrupt the Cross Industries database with a virus. After that, Cassie pursued the Power Broker until she was able to defeat him.
